Friday, 5 August 2011

From it's oh-so slow start, episode four of Blood-C finally began to reveal a little of the series potential, if only by doing away with all of its cake and coffee, which is always a good start of you're trying to create anime outside of the slice of life genre I suppose.

This fifth episode begins with Saya still trying to process the events of the last episode, from her latest fight against the Elder Bairns through to the ever-more frequent flashbacks she seems to be suffering - it's enough to give anybody a headache, so it's little surprise to see Saya suffering from it (even if I suspect her headache might be due more to caffeine withdrawal). There's little time to rest however, as Saya soon finds herself having to face off against another opponent, bringing us to another brutal life or death fight while another small piece of the oft-mentioned "covenant" is revealed, if only to confirm that it's some kind of deal between humans and the Elder Bairns which seems to have been reneged upon.

Although Saya is ultimately victorious once again, her ennui continues to gnaw away at her to the point of making her look visibly ill, and her worries are pushed over the edge as a rainy day at school sees gym class turning into a study session which in turn becomes an opportunity for the class to tell ghost stories. While most of these tales barely register with our protagonist, a story told by class teacher Kanako about the group's home town featuring supernatural creatures who eat humans hits a little too close to home for Saya, and as her head fills with goodness knows what so she collapses again. Although her affliction is only short-lived, things are about to get far more difficult for both her and at least one of her classmates it seems...

Having finally ramped things up in episode four, it's a relief to see that this fifth instalment of Blood-C sets its sights on keeping things moving - Saya's mental instability is now well and truly ensconced as a major plot point, while the first half of this week's episode again delivered us a pretty slick and slightly creepy slice of Elder Bairn slaying action. Despite being a little bit forced with its "hey, let's tell ghost stories" plot point, even the remainder of the episode proved to be decidedly interesting as it brings events closer to home for Saya in a way which suggests there's no turning back from the direction the series has now moved in - this, surely, can only be a good thing.